Santa Cookies – a festive treat

Santa cookies biscuits recipe

I’m really looking forward to Christmas preparations this year. Emma is getting super excited at any glimpse of tinsel and has already requested a pony!! I’m hoping by making gifts and treats together she can start learning that Christmas is not just about opening presents, but about generosity and giving. We had a fun time making these Santa shaped cookies, and she did lots of the actual making herself.

There was a mini debate at home over nomenclature. Are they cookies or biscuits? Well it depends where you are from, but no matter what you call them, they’re super cute, tasty and fun to make.

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New and Improved? Well hopefully soon…

Spring blossoms caption bear with me Well it’s been a crazy week behind the scenes on the blog. About ten days ago I decided it was time for me to bite the bullet and migrate the blog from Blogger to a self hosted WordPress platform. It’s something that I should have done maybe a year ago, but I was really comfortable with my little place in cyberspace and I didn’t want to mess with something that wasn’t broken.

Much to my surprise this year has seen a huge growth in readers, (Yay!) and some ideas for planned projects just aren’t supported by blogger, so it was time to (reluctantly) make a move. Continue reading →

How To: Frida Kahlo inspired Floral Headband

It’s fun having creative friends, friends that love colour and irreverence and fun. Friends that make art and think it’s awesome when you show up to their exhibition opening night dresses as Frida Kahlo. Maddie had suggested it in passing, “you should come as Frida” and I thought, yes I will, and so will Emma, because the only thing better than one Frida is two Fridas. The exhibition had a Day of the Dead theme (Dia de los Muertos), so we fit right into the riot of colour.
The costumes were easy to put together with clothing and accessories we already had at home, I only had to make the headbands. It didn’t take very long, and Emma enjoyed helping me choose the colours and bend the wires.
If you want to make a floral headband for your own costume or even as a bridal wedding headpiece read on…

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How To: Sensory Play Coloured Rice Tray

Sensory play is a valuable part of early childhood development, not only is it fun, but it helps develop fine motor skills and creativity. Emma has been a little unfocused and disruptive at school lately, so her teacher suggested we try some more sensory play activities at home to help her calm her behavior and help her focus. A tray of sand was suggested, but I though coloured rice would be more fun. (We are building her a sandpit this weekend). A rice tray is easy to put together with items you may already have in your kitchen…

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How To: Vintage Sheet Duvet Cover

It’s Spring here in Australia, and whilst I was photographing the spray painted lamp project a couple of weeks ago, I realized it was time to brighten up the bedroom with a new duvet cover.
I have a king size bed which is great (yes, I’m very lucky), but it can be hard to find bed linen to fit which doesn’t cost a fortune. Even if I had the budget to spend on my favorite designer linen, many don’t go up to king size anyway.
So, as usual, I thought I’d make my own from some queen size flat sheets left from my old bed. It’s not complicated to make a duvet cover, the difficulty comes in dealing with the masses of fabric involved.  I’ve outlined the basic way to make a duvet cover in any size and a handy link to help you out with your measurements.

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How to: Make Perfect Button Holes

Ok, put your hand up if you dread sewing buttonholes. Most sewing machines have a either a manual or automatic buttonhole setting that can make your life a whole lot easier.

My old machine had a manual 4 step buttonhole, which meant I had to manually change the settings between each stage. It was simple to use, but getting a consistently sized buttonhole was difficult.

Now my new machine has an Automatic buttonhole setting which uses a special buttonhole foot to measure the size of the buttons and makes a perfect buttonhole every time. I recently made a duvet cover with a button closures (will share a How To soon), and fell in love with this little contraption.
It looks a little complicated, but once you see how it works, you’ll love using it too.
I’ve created a video to explain how to use it.

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Thanks for the Opportunity.

This year has been quite an interesting one for me. After ‘officially’ declaring myself a blogger last year, I’ve been tweaking how this whole blogging caper sits comfortably with me and my life. Just like anything good worth doing, blogging is a journey, not a destination.
This year I made the conscious decision to blog less, but blog smarter, happier, more focused, more productively and I feel better for it.
Does it show?
On the surface it may seem less personal, less about me and my life and my thoughts, but for me, it’s much more natural and comfortable and generous. I’ve actually never felt so connected. I love to make and do, and sharing that with you is one of my favourite of things. When you read and share and make my projects, it’s just the best feeling ever! So for that I say ‘Thank you!’

More and more of you are reading – Thank you!
People are noticing you are reading, noticed I’m more focused, more creative, driven, and some exciting opportunities have presented themselves.

This weekend I am speaking on a panel at the Problogger Training Day, fancy that! I’ve been collaborating on some awesome projects with people I really admire, and the most exciting this so far… I’m now part of the Nuffnang Talent Program.

Nuffnang will be handling the behind the scenes business stuff for me, which means I will have even more time to create the best content for you. I’m very excited about it all. There is also a mentoring component, where bloggers in the talent program get master classes from experts and international bloggers. So much to learn!

So I say thank you to YOU! Readers make thing happen for us bloggers, you make it all worthwhile.

I don’t know where this journey will take me, but it’s certainly going to be exciting.

I suggest you watch this space!

x Cinti

Image overlay by Pugly Pixel

www.mypoppet.com.au

How To: Easy Lamp Makeover & Spray Painting Tips

Do you ever wonder how or why you have objects in your home that you’ve never liked? I have a set of bedside lamps that I have always hated. They were my parent’s, bought in the early 80′s when bronze stuff was really ‘hot’. I never liked them then, yet I managed to inherit them as a teenager and they have followed me to several homes. I’m cripplingly thrifty you see, and because they still worked fine, throwing them out was not an option. I thought new lamp shades would help, but it didn’t, so as a last resort, out came the spray paint!
Check out the before and after, and some spray painting tips below.

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